I awoke slightly with a throbbing headache and my whole body feeling like it was being weighed down by lead. Even my eyelids were a struggle to open. As I finally was able to open my eyes and prop myself up to get a better look at my surroundings, I noticed I have no bloody clue where the hell I am. Everywhere I looked was nothing but dense woods. I tried to recall how I got here but kept getting distracted by the ominous feeling I was getting from the woods, like the trees themselves were watching me. I decided its high time I get my butt moving.
"Ugh, come on ya bastard, get the hell up!" I said to myself as I forced my aching body up. I looked up for any sign of the sun. By the looks of it, it was probably around 3:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. Using the sun as a compass I decided to go north, as a walked I tried to recall how I got in such a place.
"Let's see, last I remember was in some cave while on a camping trip with myself," I said to myself, "I don't recall leaving, so how in the bloody hell did I get here?"
My head started clearing up more and I checked myself for any clues to how I ended up where I was. I found myself still wearing the clothes that I was wearing before, denim jeans, a light grey t-shirt and my old leather jacket. I patted myself down finding my survival hatchet and hunting knife strapped to my belt along with zippo lighter and flint in my pocket. My backpack had a few snacks, a towel, some extra clothes, and my 9mm with an extra box of bullets. I continued walking for what seemed like an hour not seeming to be making any progress. I was about to rest when i heard a loud shriek that sounded like a little girl followed by a loud roar.
I ran toward the direction I believed the scream came from as fast as I could. "Well so much for resting" I thought as I neared closer to my destination. I looked around for any sign's for someone, then I heard the same little voice screaming "Help!" followed only seconds by another roar to my left. I ran a little but further drawing my knife and hatchet just in case. I finally came into view of what I assumed made the roar. When I saw it, I immediately thought i must have eaten some shrooms or something, because what was in front of me was what looked like a lion but with large wings that resembled that of a bats and a tail of a scorpion, and best of all it somehow stood almost two feet taller than me. I halted to an immediate stop, or at least tried, since I seemed to have misplaced my footing and slid along the ground right into a nice thorny bush, not my best of times really.
"The hell is that thing?!" I practically shouted, quickly covering my mouth to prevent myself from getting myself killed. Fortunately the thing didn't seem to notice me, instead the beast was focused on what seemed to be a little filly pony quivering in a little ball; I looked closer wondering why the hell was that pony yellow and wearing a big red bow in its mane at the same time wondering where the little girl I heard was. Unfortunately both my answers got answered quickly at the same time.
"SOMEPONY HELP ME!!" the little filly screamed out. As each second ticked by in my head I questioned my sanity. The beast roared again and raised one of its paws up to strike the filly, and for some god forsaken reason I reacted by running in to the rescue. Before the beasts paw could reach the filly I swung my hatchet rights into its paw, successfully knocking it away and successfully pissing it off apparently. I stood tall between the monster and the strange filly.
"Dont just sit there, MOVE!!" I yelled at her. She just stared at me confused, at least I'm not the only one. "Did you not hear me, GO!!!" That seemed to catch her attention. "I can't, my leg stuck!" I looked and sure enough her back right leg had got caught in some thick thorny vines. "Shit" I thought to myself as I tried to think up of a plan. The beast didn't seem to willing to wait for me to make a plan as it charged toward me to make another strike. I ducked under the swing and lunged towards its chest and stabbed my knife as deep as i could hoping i might hit something important. The monster roared in pain and knocked me back with another strike from its paw making me lose my knife as well.
I readied my hatchet for a strike but was surprised by its tail shoot towards me and striking me in my left arm. "Well shit," I decided it was best time to run and fast. I grabbed the filly, yanking her out of the vines and ran as fast as I could the opposite direction. It didn't seem like the monster was chasing us but I wasn't gonna stop and look. I ran as fast I could with my injured arm, but my vision was fading quickly. I didn't make it two minutes before i collapsed into the ground.
"Mister, the manticore stung you in the arm!" she said in a panicked voice. "Hold on I'll try to find something for it."
I saw her limp away past the bushes before my eyes closed, the last thing I heard was a heavily southern accented voice, "Applebloom, were are ya?!!"
Waking up in pain is something I'm hoping to not make a habit of, but life is funny that way. Opening my eyes, the first thing i saw was a white ceiling, not the tree tops before. Looking around confirmed my suspicions that I was not in a forest but what looked like a hospital room.
The bed I was in was comfy but for some reason my feet were hanging over the edge quite a bit. A blue curtain hung to my right blocking my view of the rest of the room.
"It was just a dream...." I laid back down in my bed recalling that strange dream, The strange lion creature, the filly, and my arm. Reaching to rub my sore shoulder, my heart began to sink and quickly go into over drive. "My...arm? Where is my arm?!!" Looking where my arm was supposed to be was nothing but a short stub with bloodied bandages on the end. My heart quickly skyrocketed into overdrive as I tried to figure out what was going on and what happened to me. I screamed in terror trying to get out of the bed, I was so panicked I tangled myself in the sheets and fell to the floor. The pain in my arm also sky rocketed causing me to scream out in pain.
The curtains were pulled back and a white pony with a pink mane moved in me. "Someone bring some anesthetic, the patient is panicked!" Her voice was feminine and soft. My eyes locked onto her, she was wearing what looked like a nurses cap with a red cross. "Wh...what..." My brain was still trying to register my missing arm and now I got talking ponies. Another pony rushed through the door (cause my brain didn't hurt enough), this one with a brown coat, mane and a horn sticking straight out of his head , with what looked like a needle floating over his head.
"Redheart hold him still."
"Yes doctor." The stallion seemed to be hovering the needle slowly towards me as the mare pinned my shoulders down with her hooves.
My brain finally decided I've had enough and reacted. Grabbing the mare by her mane i yanked her to the side the best I could knocking her into the stallion, both of them collapsing on each other. Forcing myself onto my feet I ran to the door only; I was almost to the door when something latched onto my feet causing me to fall to the ground. Looking at my ankle, I saw a golden light wrapped it. I tried tugging my leg away but couldn't get loose.
"Please stop we are trying to help you!" I looked over and saw the stallion behind me his horn glowing the same color light as my ankle. He had a worried look on his face, but that didn't help calm me down.
"Who and what are you?!" I asked my voice panicked.
The pony gestured his hoof to his chest "I'm Dr. Flatline," he then pointed to the white mare "and this is Nurse Redheart. You are in a hospital and we just want to help."
My heart was starting to slow down and I was starting to get my bearings. "What happened to me..? What happened to MY ARM?!!"
Dr. Flatline flinched a bit as a I raised my voice t the end. "You were stung by a manticore, the venom destroyed your arm before we could save it. Please just sit and we will explain all we can." I looked between him and the nurse. Nurse Redheart looked like she was scared of me but was ready to pounce at a moments notice.
I calmed my breathing and looked at the doctor. "Ok... but first please put down the needle, I don't like needle's."
Dr. Flatline gave me a concerned look but nodded. Setting the needle on a table he gestured a hoof to the bed. "Please sit so we can check your wounds." I reluctantly did what I was told and let them examine my arm. The doctor made a few descriptions and the nurse jotted what he said down on a clipboard. When he seemed to be satisfied, he bandaged my arm back and the nurse left the room.
"Ok, your arm seems to be healing fine with no infection, so that's good. Can.... can I ask you for your name?"
"Luceo... Luceo Mackenzie."
The doctor nodded. "Well as I've said my name is Dr. Flatline. Can you tell me what you last remember?"
I thought trying to remember what happened before i blacked out. "I woke up in some forest and I heard a scream; I ran towards it and saw a weird creature attacking a filly. I tried fighting it off, but it was tougher than me and it stung me in my arm," Looking at my arm I felt my heart sink again. "then i grabbed the filly and ran as fast as I could. Is the filly ok? She's not to hurt is she?"
The doctor nodded some more. "The little filly is fine, her leg was scraped up from the thorns but the cuts a re superficial. As for the beast you saw that was a manticore, a ferocious creature with a toxic sting." He smiled a bit. " You were lucky though any longer and that venom would have reached your heart."
"Silver linings and all, I guess. Besides the obvious, where am I?"
"Your in Ponyville. A small quiet town but quite a lovely place. Actually there are a few ponies that would like to see you if you dont mind." I saw no harm in it so I shook my head. "Excellent! Just give me a few minutes and ill have them in." He trotted out the door and left me to my own.
Looking around the room I saw my backpack laying by a small dresser. Grabbing my bag I pulled out my spare clothes and dressed myself into proper clothes. Realizing I was really hungry, I reached into my bag only to feel something metal. Then it dawned on me, I had my pistol in my bag the whole time yet I fought with a knife and a hatchet. I really hated my life right now. Now I was to depressed to even eat despite my hunger.
Five minutes later Dr. Flatline came back in with a smile on his face. "Ah I see your able to dress yourself so that's good. Your guests our outside the door so if you are ready I'll send them in." I nodded to him. "Excellent, I'll send them in then." With that he walked out of the room and three mare's and a familiar yellow filly. As soon as the filly saw me, she darted right towards me. I flinched as she tackled into me. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou...." she kept saying over and over as she hugged my chest.
"Applebloom!!" One of the mares, an orange mare with blond mane wearing a stetson, rushed over and grabbed the filly by the tail and yanked her off of me and pulled her away a safe distance. I could tell she didn't trust me as much as the filly by the way she looked at me. "Don't be gettin to close to that thing."
The filly, Applebloom, struggled in the orange mares grip. "But sis he saved from the manticore, he can't be bad if he saved me right?"
The older pony didn't look like she would have any of it. "We can't be sure of that just yet, sugarcube. Twilight, Fluttershy ya'll mind stop starin and help me out here?" The two other mares were staring at me the whole time and finally snapped out of it.
"Uh...yes..ahem. Allow me to introduce ourselves." This one was a purple mare with matching mane with a pink and purple highlights, with also wings and a horn. She gestured her hoof to herself. "My name is Twilight Sparkle," She then gestured a hoof to the orange mare, "This is Applejack," then to the filly, "And you've met Applebloom," then finally to the last mare a yellow mare with a pink mane and wings. "And last but not least Fluttershy." They all said their hellos, well two of them, all I got from Applejack was a grunt and I barely heard anything from Fluttershy. I'm gonna take a swing in the dark and guess she's shy.
I waved at them. "My names Luceo."
Twilight smiled at that. "Nice to meet you Luceo. We all want to thank you for saving Applebloom from that manticore... and apologize for your arm." The mares ears drooped a bit at the last point, personally I don't blame her.
Applebloom jumped up with childish energy. "You where so cool fighting off that manticore all by yourself!" She kept on talking until her sister finally put a hoof on her to calm her down.
Applejack cleared her throat and looked at me. "I do have to thank you for savin my lil sister from that monster, and sorry for my behavior earlier I'm just ta bit protective of her is all." I understood and nodded to her and she seemed to smile a bit.
Twilight clapped her front hooves together and smiled. "Great, now that we all get along, the doctor told me you should be in shape to leave and the princesses would like to see you as well so you and I should get going before the trains stop for the night."
That caught my attention, some princesses wanted to see me. This can either go really well or really badly, given my recent track record, I was really hoping for something good to happen soon. "Wait, back up a minute, who are these princesses? Also i just woke up do we really have to go now?"
Twilight looked at me with a sad smile. " Sorry Luceo, but the princesses wanted me to bring you to them as soon as you woke up. So please get ready, and as for who they are I'll explain on the way. You can go ahead and get ready I'll wait for you outside." With that she and her friends walked out leaving me in hospital room.
Thinking I got no other choice in the matter I grabbed my bag putting it on my back the best I could with my missing left arm. Thinking about it i strapped my pistol to my belt just in case. They may have saved my life but I've never been one to trust someone for just acts of kindness. I hope to God that I would not need to use this ever again, for their sake and mine.
Walking to the sink I cleaned my face up my face a bit and fixed my hair to what I thought was presentable, noting that I needed to get a haircut and a shave when I get the opportunity. Feeling I've let Twilight wait on me long enough I headed out the door. Twilight was waiting just outside the door by herself a book covered in a purple light floating in front of her face. She didn't seem to notice me as I walked up to her.
"Ok I've got to ask, how the hell are you doing that?" I asked.
She jumped a bit hearing my voice and gave me a look like she was studying me. "Doing what?"
"The thing with the book." I deadpanned.
"Oh, just a simple telekinesis spell. It makes it easier to read on the go than using just your hooves." She said plainly. Levitating her book into her bags she motioned for me to follow. "Come on we should hurry to catch the last train."
I quickly followed behind her trying to keep up, for a little mare she sure walks fast. "Wait a minute, by telekinesis you mean controlling physical objects with your mind, right?"
She shook her head and kept walking. "Not exactly, I'm channeling magic to through my horn to lift the book. There have been stories that have told of others who could levitate objects with just their minds, but I'm pretty sure it's just folklore."
"Wait magic is a real thing here?" Why am I feeling like a misplaced adult in a children's story.
We finally exited out of the hospital and I got a first glimpse of where I was. Everything seemed like an old time village, but instead the buildings were painted in bright colors and brightly colored ponies were everywhere. "Ok, lets say I follow, the ponies with horns can use magic, ponies with wings I'm betting can fly, but what about the ponies without either," I looked at Twilight. "and what about the ponies with both?"
She giggled, I didn't know i said a joke, and smiled at me."Yes, you are correct, they are unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. As for the magic we all have it and use it in different ways. Unicorns manifest their magic to a sort of physical form, while pegasi use theirs to fly and control the weather, as for earth ponies their magic helps grow and farm while also give them stronger and sturdier bodies. As Ponies like me and the princesses who have all of these traits, we are a symbol of unity between all three races. Our magic is also naturally more stronger than the other ponies."
All this magic talk is hurting my head, but I was slowly getting the idea. "Wait you said you and the princesses? Does that make you a princess too?"
Twilight blushed at my question, looking away from me. "Yes, but please don't treat me differently, I'm still getting used to this whole royalty business and really don't care for the attention that comes with it." Ah, so she's at least modest about her rank, that gives me hope on the other princesses.
"So how many princesses are there exactly?" We were now walking into what looked like a farmer's market. Ponies were closing up their stalls for the night it seemed.
"There are four princesses, well technically five but you don't have to worry about her. Princess Celestia and Luna are the one's we are going to see. Princess Celestia Is the ruler of the sun, as Princess Luna is the ruler of the moon."
"Wait are you telli..." Twilight stopped in front of me before i could finish my question and I practically had to leap over her to stop from falling over her.
"Sorry Luceo, I need you to hold on a sec I need to talk to somepony real quick," I wanted to finish my question but I relented and stood my ground. Twilight smiled and walked towards another pony. The pony was a mare with a light purple coat and two toned pink mane carrying a bag of what looked like books across her back. "Excuse me Cheerilee?" The mare looked and towards Twilight giving her a smile.
"Oh, hello Twilight how are you this evening?" She started walking towards Twilight but froze in her tracks when she saw me. Oh boy.
Twilight didn't seem to catch the change in her reaction though. "I'm doing good. I was just wanting to ask if you still needed those books for tomorrow?" The other mare didn't seem to respond. "Um... Mrs. Cheerilee, are you ok?"
This seemed to snap the mare to snap the mare out of her trance but her eyes stayed glued on me, her pupils shrinking like toothpicks. I waved my hand at her trying to seem as little threatening as possible. That just seemed to jolt her fully as she screamed bloody murder. Both me and Twilight covered our ears from her scream. The mare then ran off screaming "MONSTER MONSTER!!!" before Twilight could stop her.
I walked next to Twilight as she just stared off at the screaming mare. "Well that was pleasant. This isn't gonna become a thing is it?"
Twilight frowned at the mare. "No...probably not....maybe, I can never tell with this town. Don't get me wrong I love this place but I still swear this town is crazy." She continued walking towards the direction of the train station.
I followed suit right behind her. "Shouldn't we go after her, you to prevent a misunderstanding?"I didn't exactly want a bunch of angry villager's to be chasing me around with pitch forks and such.
Twilight shook her head again. "No trust me, by tomorrow she'll forget all about it. I swear that's this whole towns special talent."
"If you say so, I don't fell like fighting an agr...." I didn't finish as something hard bashed into my back and knocking me to the ground and onto my back. On top of me was another mare this one a pegasus. Her coat was as blue as the sky with a rainbow mane. She jabbed a hoof at my face, but missed as I punched in the gut. She gasped for breath and I punched her again in the face knocking her off of me. Getting to my feet I backed away pulling out my gun and turning the safety off.
It took less than a second for the crazy mare to get back on her feet. The mare glared and me with a bloody nose. "OH, it is SO ON!!" I aimed my gun at her, not caring at the time where on her I hit. Before she could take off again she was surrounded by a familiar purple light.
"Rainbow stop!! He's a friend!" Twilight came running towards us her horn glowing as she lifted Rainbow up.
I sighed in relief putting the safety back on but not holstering my gun. No risks.
"Friend?! I thought he was supposed to be a monster?!" Rainbow kept glaring at me trying to break free from Twilights magical grip. "I saw him sneaking behind you, for bucks sake!"
"I was leading him to the train station, he was just following me." Twilight looked towards me. "Are you ok? Your not hurt are you?"
I decided it was fine to holster my gun since twilight seemed to have things under control. "Well I'm not paralyzed from the waist down so I'd say I'm alright."
Twilight nodded and turned Rainbow to face her. "Rainbow I'm fine and I can handle myself if need be. I'll explain later but I need to get Luceo to Canterlot quickly, so I'll see you tomorrow." With that she let Rainbow down. The crazy pegasis gave me one last look before pointing a hoof towards her eyes then at me, friendly lass ain't she, before flying off into the distance.
"Ok let's hurry before something else happens." Twilight turned and proceeded towards the train station at a faster pace.
"Hate to tell you I told you so." I whispered to myself as I followed once again.
